Francesca Chabrier

When i look up and see / i am walking

hello memory
hello simple me
happening again in a new
ordinary day
Hello sister
and rain, truth
written on the wall.
Hello exceptions,
slap on the wrist.
Oh, hello goodbye.
I ask you sweetly
for every piece of me
would go back to tip
something else over.
Hello spongy hope in a glass
Dried up and sorry.
Orchestrated so poorly.
Say hello
to my mother and father.
I am sorry
I cannot be with them.
Hello out there
In the distance.
I know I came here
for this
simple me
a man’s man,
I am just learning
My way around.
Hello red light in the shower
Secret and silent
In the new house.
Take me back
To before I was born
so I can say hello
again for the first time

Francesca Chabrier is the author of Throw Yourself Into The Prairie (Sarabande, 2014) was published earlier this year. She lives and writes in Oregon.